The Relationship between the Practice of Religious Beliefs, Spiritual Well Being, General Health and Coping Styles in Soldiers

Document Type : Original Research

Authors

1 Department of Psychology, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Psychology, Mohaghegh University, Ardabil, Iran

Abstract

Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between religious practice and spiritual well-being with the general health and coping style in soldiers.

Methods: This study was descriptive correlation. The study population consisted of all the soldiers in a military unit. Among this population, 140 soldiers were randomly selected. In order to gather data, the practice of religious beliefs scale (Temple), the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), and the coping style questionnaire were used. The data were analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficients and standard multiple regression.

Results: Results show that there is a significant positive correlation between the practice of religious beliefs, general health and coping styles (P < 0.05). Also, it has been seen that a significant positive correlation exists between spiritual well-being, general health and coping styles (P < 0.05). Multiple regression analysis also showed that the practice of religious beliefs and spiritual well-being are able to predict general health and coping styles.

Conclusion: The results showed that general health and stress coping strategies were significantly correlated with the practice of religious beliefs and the spiritual well-being of soldiers. In general it can be concluded that in order to increase public health and improve coping skills in the soldiers’ stressful situations, encouraging them to practice religious beliefs can be extremely effective.

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